First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to check this out and keep tabs on me while I prepare for probably the most exciting and challenging phases of my life so far. As you all already know, I am moving to Nonsan, Korea for a year long contract to teach elementary/middle school aged students conversational English.
(Insert awkward transition to explain why I am posting maps from GoogleEarth)
(A shot of Nonsan relative to the entire country)
(A closer view of the city. As you can tell, it's not very big.)
I wanted to give you guys somewhat of an idea of where I will be living for the next year since I obviously haven't been able to take any pictures yet. Random factoid about Nonsan: they grow five different varieties of strawberries, AKA my favorite fruit, thereby making it the most awesomest place to be assigned, even if it will take over an hour each way just to go to the bank.
(Insert yet another poorly worded transition to explain the next set of pictures taken of my school.)
Word on the street is that my classroom size will only be about ten to fifteen students and I will only have to teach about six hours a day from 2PM until 8 at night; which translates to sleeping in and being available to Skype (username: margaret.miller86) or chat on AIM (username: haydensjedi04) when most of you guys will be getting off work. If my calculations are correct, I should be about 14 hours ahead of the west coast (that means 17 for you east coasters :) you know who you are).
So most of you guys know that I have been knee-deep in the VISA process to be granted clearance to enter the country and work there for the next year. After dealing with a not-so-friendly clerk at Fed-Ex who wouldn't believe me when I told her which city to select for shipping my package, (Much like in the UK, major cities in Korea are divided into districts or neighborhoods, that you have to clarfiy on the shipping label. For instance, my documents had to be shipped to the Seocho-Gu district of Seoul, ergo simply putting "Seoul" on the label wasn't going to cut it.) I finally got my way and the documents arrived safe and secure. I just recieved my VISA issuance number from the Immigration Office and now I have to drive into the wonderful city of San Fransisco for a formal interview with the Consulate to determine my eligibilty to teach in Korea. You would figure the fact that a company has chosen to hire me would be validation enough, but apparently not *shrugs* But onto the more important tidbit of info I recieved in the e-mail from my recruiter yesterday; my departure date.
That's right, I now know the date I will be leaving for Korea (from now on this will be referred to as 'd-day'). August 22nd will be the day I board my plane for the long haul flight that I am pretty certain will change the rest of my life. Last night I had a lot of time to think about this day as I tossed and turned in the Sacramento heat. I imagined how hard it would be saying goodbye to my friends and family, what we would do to celebrate the night before, and then I had a horrible confirmation. I would be missing all of football season. Yes, I know this should be at the bottom of the list of my concerns after not knowing the native language and learning to eat Kimchi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi. But for those of you who understand my love of the sport, it just simply won't be the same watching highlights from my laptop on ESPN.com. I was trying to figure out last night why I had such an emotional connection to the game and that's when I realized how big of a role watching football with my family played in my life. Every weekend we would wake up after a full morning of sleeping in (this being a huge deal for my dad who was usually up at two in the morning to go to work during the week) and get changed into our team shirts (Cal on Saturdays and Chargers on Sundays) in order to show our support proudly. Then came game time; complete with snacks of the salty and sugary variety. Whether our team won or lost, the latter occuring with the most frequency, the most important thing was that we spent the day together as a family, united as one screaming at the TV to urge on our favorite players or insult the referees (who, in my mother's opinion, were always either blind or getting paid by our opponents). This past year I tried to carry on the tradition on my own via text messaging with my dad during Cal and Chargers games. While it wasn't exactly the same, I felt a renewal of that connection to my past and that I know I am going to miss during my year abroad. I just hope the players and coaches will be able to hear my brilliant advice from thousands of miles away just as well as they did from hundreds :D
Awww, Mags!! We're going to miss you! And I love your revelation about your love of football. It makes total sense!
ReplyDeleteBut I promise it will still be here when you return. And so will we! Just don't forget about us... ;)